The best New York hotels with river views, including romantic rooftop decks and buzzy bars

The Wagner at The Battery is on the southern tip of Manhattan, overlooking picturesque Battery Park and New York Harbor, with spectacular view of the Lady Liberty and Ellis Island in the bay. While you’ll be far from the tourist attractions in Midtown, this bustling-by-day locale puts you within three minutes of the Statue of Liberty ferry and about a 10-minute walk to One World Trade Center, the 9/11 Memorial Museum, and Wall Street. Some of the 298 rooms also provide sweeping views of the surrounds – a telescope comes in handy for closer views.

This hip 70-room hotel, housed in a converted 1901 factory building on the Williamsburg, Brooklyn waterfront, has great views of Manhattan from the upper floors. The style is industrial meets contemporary with exposed brick, pine beams and cast-iron columns throughout both public spaces and bedrooms. They are all larger than your average New York hotel with 13 feet-high ceilings and huge windows, many of them floor-to-ceiling, facing the Manhattan skyline. There are four loft suites, two with their own private roof decks. Don’t miss cocktails at sunset at sixth-floor bar and terrace, Ides.

Set on floors 35 to 54 of the north tower of the Time Warner Center, with spectacular views of Central Park below, this is the ultimate in modern New York luxury. Décor-wise Asian accents – fresh orchids, exotic purple and gold tones – merge with retro elements such as Art Deco chairs and tiled walls. A therapeutic spa set over two floors on the Hudson River side, an upscale restaurant, and two fancy cocktail bars – not to mention the awe-inspiring views – give discerning travellers good reason to choose Mandarin Oriental.

Hotel Hugo, which borders SoHo and its triumvirate of food, shopping and nightlife, takes its design cue from the area’s cast-iron history and fuses elements from Italian luxury yachts. It’s an attractive choice for travellers looking to experience Lower Manhattan’s sights and attractions, before unwinding at the rooftop’s Bar Hugo, sipping and soaking up the Statue of Liberty, Lower Manhattan and Hudson River panorama. During warm-weather months, Azul Rooftop delivers a dose of Old Havana with 360-degree views, a diverse libation line-up, as well as live music and rooftop cinema.

While this historic landmark holds on to its 19th-century character on the exterior, the interior surprises with a modern and blingy aesthetic, with black-and-white marble, pale pink walls, high-gloss wood and metal along with bold splashes of teal blue. For dining and socialising, there’s a chic restaurant and bar (you can pretend that you’ve jet-setted to Venice for a meal when you dine at Bellini) as well as an elegant living room-cum-bar off the lobby. The hotel is a few minutes’ walk to the East River and features lovely views of the Brooklyn Bridge (some rooms have furnished terraces overlooking the bridge and South Street Seaport).

This Chelsea skyrise, just three short blocks from Madison Square Garden and the Empire State Building offers breathtaking views, stylish rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows, a chic art-laden lobby, alfresco dining and a world-famous chef. Though there is no rooftop bar for regular guests (only for events), there is an open-air veranda on the fifth floor, where, weather permitted, they hold a complimentary cocktail hour from 5pm to 6pm. Standard rooms have dramatic views, but all east-facing rooms and suites boast views of the Empire State Building.

Plum in the middle of Williamsburg (AKA hipsterville), The William Vale has an outdoor pool deck – which boasts the largest hotel pool in Brooklyn, open June to September – a groovy rooftop bar with 360 views and futuristic rooms with cinematic views of Manhattan. The balconies are the star of each room, with chairs and a table for eating, sunbathing or viewing the sunset over the East River. There is food and drink for every mood, curated by two of the city’s top Michelin-starred chefs, but for nighttime glamour, Westlight, the hotel’s hugely popular rooftop bar offers amazing views, drinks and small plates like octopus skewers and baby back ribs by Carmellini’s kitchen.

With stunning floor-to-ceiling windows, rooms overlook the Hudson River or straddle the popular High Line Park. The tall, narrow slab of a building may be reminiscent of a 1970s British council block, but with its velvet-roped restaurant-bar, and rooftop areas, its aesthetic is more LA flash meets New York glamour. There’s a street-side German beer garden, a thriving grill restaurant reminiscent of a Parisian bistro, and two rooftop lounges overlooking the Hudson, one with synthetic grass, deckchairs, and telescopes. Rooftop club Top of the Standard is a glittering supper lounge with live jazz, a small plates menu, and designer cocktails, open from brunch until late.